Les Baricades Mistérieuses Hanneke van Proosdij ... - InstantEncore

Les Baricades Mistérieuses
Hanneke van Proosdij clavecin
The French harpsichord school of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is known as Les
Clavecinistes. They flourished and achieved a refinement of keyboard writing which was
constantly admired and often imitated outside their home country. The French Clavecinistes
flourished at the royal court and the aristocratic salons of Paris. We will take a journey
among the different generations and styles of French harpsichordists and composers.
The Seventeenth Century (Le Grand Siècle). The lute enjoyed great popularity in France
in the 16 th and 17 th centuries as a solo instrument as well as an accompaniment to the air de
cour, and 17 th century solo harpsichord music freely borrows from the lute tradition. Cesses
mortels de soupirer, one of the finest of the French lute airs, is here presented as it might have
been played by French harpsichordists in the 17 th century. Jacques Champion de
Chambonnières is considered the founder of the French harpsichord school. He was also the
teacher of Louis Couperin and d'Anglebert.
Louis XV: Les Grands Maîtres Couperin and Rameau. François Couperin succeeded
d'Anglebert as harpsichordist of the King, was appointed organist of the Royal Chapel, and
taught harpsichord to Louis XIV's grandson. This CD features music from three generations
of the Couperin family: Louis, François le Grand and Armand-Louis. They were a family of
musicians who flourished from the late 16th century until the middle of the 19th, holding a
position of esteem parallel to that of the Bachs in Germany. The Couperins were first and
foremost organists, and were closely associated with the church of St Gervais, Paris for 173
years from the time of Louis’ appointment on Easter Sunday 1653. The Couperin family
along with Rameau provide some of the finest music of the baroque in the important genres
of opera, motet, sacred & secular concerts, and the wide variety of keyboard music.
The beauty of the Rococo. Jean-François Dandrieu follows closely in the footsteps of
Couperin and Duphly was perhaps the last great proponent of the harpsichord. Claude-
Bénigne Balbastre was famous for his organ improvisations, and managed to save the organ
of Notre-Dame during the French by playing variations on Revolutionary marching songs.
His harpsichord music is full of vibrant harmonies and jazzy cross-rhythms.
The rondeau form, along with the chaconne, was well-liked by Les Clavecinistes as it permitted
greater length and diversity. La Forqueray in F Minor, consists of a somber rondeau in the
bass-viol range named after the late viol virtuoso Antoine Forqueray. The episodes in Soeur
Monique strike a nice balance between unity and contrast, as each episode develops more
independence from the main theme. As a portrait, the work presents an allegory of the
secular and sacred life, as the more sensuous episodes increasingly overwhelm the rondeau
theme and reveal another layer of Monique’s character. Titles such as Les tendres plaintes and
L’Amour reciproque evoke a specific affect or mood; others refer to people & places, and some
will remain a mystery such as Les Baricades Mistérieuses.

Instruments made by the Ruckers family in Antwerp were both rebuilt and copied by the
great Parisian makers, in a fiercely competitive quest for the ideal harpsichord for solo
repertoire. With an expanded compass of five octaves, a lighter keyboard action, and two
independent manuals, these new instruments were perfectly suited to the technical and
expressive demands of Les Clavecinistes. The instrument played on this CD exemplifies the
tradition; it was made in 1996 in Amsterdam by Joop Klinkhamer after the remarkable
instrument by Ruckers and later Goujon (1632/1742) currently in the Musée d'Art et
d'Histoire in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Its tonal palette is both dark and transparent with clear
articulation. 2x8' 1x4' FF-f''' A=392.
Please visit Hanneke at
www.hannekevanproosdij.com
www.voicesofmusic.org